PEn-NAM
Sarna News
| PEn-NAM ("Penance") | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Vessel Profile | |
| Type | Space Station |
| Class | (possibly unique) |
The Periphery Engineering and Northstar Asteroid Mining Consortium mining habitat, called PEn-NAM by the company but colloquially called "Penance" by its inhabitants, is a large space station combining habitat, refinery and factory functions.[1] It is situated in the Viborg system, where an asteroid field spreading across only 40° of its orbit has taken the place of the fourth planet. This asteroid field is thought to be relatively young, around 20,000 years old, and to have been formed when an interloper planetoid overtook the fourth planet from behind and tore it apart. The rocks are dense enough for one centralized mining operation to monopolize the whole system. PEn-NAM is situated in or near the Viborg belt, "above" its plane.
The station was described as cylindrical, studded with radio towers, sensors and structures and measuring well over a kilometer (implicitly much more). At least two structures thought by the observer to be small factories radiate from the (assumed) stern on slender pylons; one is a refinery. The other rounded end of the giant cylinder is a glass dome, apparently a hydroponics facility. Immediately behind the dome are two very large grav decks several stories high and rotating in opposite directions, and beyond these are at least six (twelve, if the layout is symmetrical) hangar doors large enough for DropShips and then several docking collars. There are also large automated warehouses, at least some of them unpressurized. PEn-NAM also features a meteor defense system including several turreted laser batteries.[2]